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Two-Year Anniversary of the 2015 Nepal Earthquake, Rebuilding with Resilience
On April 25, 2015 a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal causing significant damage and loss of life. The devastating earthquake caused a series of aftershocks (several severe), triggered avalanches and many landslides, and affected 31 districts, 14 acutely. More than 8,700 people died and more than 22,300 people were injured as a result of the…
Read MoreBogota Urban Land Use Management and Flood Risk Reduction
Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, has a population of 9 million people and is the center of the country’s administrative, financial, cultural and service life. Bogotá is located on a savanna, 2,600 meters above sea level, on the eastern Andean mountain range. The city is crossed by rivers and surrounded by wetlands and mountains. Despite its growing…
Read MoreMeeting Multiple Objectives with Flood Risk Management
Water and sanitation are intrinsically linked to flood risk management, particularly in urban areas. When sewage and drainage infrastructure is unable to keep up with population growth, flood risk is increased; flood risk can also be compounded when outflows, drains and waterways are blocked by debris or encroached upon or occupied by informal settlements. Such a situation…
Read MoreFlash Floods: Alternative Management Options in Kulob City, Tajikistan
The city of Kulob, located in south-center Tajikistan, is an area extremely vulnerable to flash flooding. Typically, between March and May, a combination of heavy rainfall and snow melt flow into normally dry rivers and gullies. Paved streets, dense housing, and the growth of urban areas into the hills above the city make flash flood…
Read MoreFactors in Urban Flooding
Urban flooding typically results from multiple factors at multiple scales. Changes to land use upstream or in the region, or other factors within city limits, can lead to local flooding. The case below illustrates how urban flooding can be managed at different scales. In 1998, intense rainfall led to a severe flood and inundation of…
Read MoreSix Years After Tsunami Japan is Finding Ways to Work with Nature
March 11, 2017 marked the sixth anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, also known as the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami. In 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck near the northeastern coast of country, triggering a massive tsunami and a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The combined impacts of…
Read MoreLooking Upstream to Manage Flood Risk: A Pakistan Example
An integrated watershed approach to flood risk management addresses flood risk holistically and can lead to positive outcomes across multiple sectors. The Ayubia National Park (ANP) covers over 7,000 acres (3,000 hectares) in the Galliat region in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a northwestern province of Pakistan, and is located within the moist temperate zone of the Himalayan-Karakoram-Hindu…
Read MoreThe Role of Gaming in Water Resource Management
Bruce Lankford at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom developed the River Basin Game in 2000 to teach his students about management of shared resources. Dr. Lankford has since traveled to Tanzania, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa and India and uses the game to engage community water users and municipal officials in the…
Read MoreRequest Your Hard Copy of the Flood Green Guide Today
World Wildlife Fund (WWF), in partnership with the US Agency for International Development Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), has developed the Natural and Nature-Based Flood Management: A Green Guide (Flood Green Guide or FGG) to support communities in using natural and nature-based methods for flood risk management. The Flood Green Guide was drafted…
Read MoreWWF Sponsors Sri Lankan Flood Risk Management Workshop
The storm produced heavy rain fall and resulted in some areas receiving over 350 mm (13.77 inches) of rain in 24 hours. [1] Severe flooding and landslides affected 19 districts and over 300,000 people, killing more than 100 people. [2] On March 13-14, 2017 WWF co-sponsored a Flood Risk Management Workshop with the Hans Sauer…
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